Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie might not have let a single debate go by this spring without mentioning President Ronald Reagan. But Wednesday’s curveball was that rather than also mention Jack Kemp, Christie instead went for former Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill as his other historical political reference.

During Wednesday’s debate on WOR radio, Assemblyman Rick Merkt was again seeking to puncture Christie’s campaign promise to cut income taxes across the board. Merkt says legislative Democrats would never go along. Christie says they’d agree because they’d be responding to the wish of the voters. Merkt said voters have been wishing for years that property taxes would go down, but they don’t, and insisted Senate President Dick Codey and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts wouldn’t go along.

“These guys have done nothing but raise taxes for the last eight years,” Merkt said. “Frankly, I’m not convinced they’re going to be swept away by any Republican governor. They haven’t been swept away by their own governor, Jon Corzine, who promised during his last campaign that he was going to cut taxes. He went to the Legislature. He got nowhere.”

Here’s where Christie dropped in some 1980s political references:

“Leadership matters and makes a difference, and I think elections matter and make a difference. People are learning that right now in America. When I am elected in November, it’s going to send a very strong message to Dick Codey and to Joe Roberts that people want change and they want their taxes cut. I just don’t believe in this negativity Rick’s putting out,” Christie said. “Ronald Reagan had to look at Tip O’Neill. I don’t think Dick Codey is any tougher than Tip O’Neill was, and I don’t think Tip O’Neill was any more eager to cut taxes than Dick Codey.”

Lonegan agreed with Christie’s main point — that if a Republican is governor, Democrats in the Legislature (at least those in competitive districts) would have to take notice. Lonegan said his election would be a voter endorsement of his plan for a flat income tax of 2.9 percent and added that Democratic lawmakers from well-to-do Bergen County, where the wealthy residents would benefit most from such a tax change, would be hard pressed to vote no.

“When the people in the Senate and Assembly say, ‘Hey look, we’re not going to cut taxes,’ voters have a chance to vote on that issue two years afterwards, and they know that very well,” Lonegan said.

Merkt held his ground. “You have to understand that what you can do are the things you can do as governor, not the things that you hope the Legislature’s going to do. I’m not being pessimistic. I’m being realistic,” he said.